How to Take Street-View Photos for Google Maps
By Kevin Lee
Add a helpful description to a Google Maps location, and Google Map visitors can learn more about that location. People who know how to attach photos to those descriptions often add pictures to locations to enhance everyone’s viewing experience. One way to mark a location with a photo is to take a snapshot of an interesting place using Street View and add it to your map.
Creating a Custom Map
Step 1
Log into your Google account and search for a location you’d like to include in the map. A marker appears on the map that marks the location. Click “My Places” followed by “Create Map” and type a title and description for your map. Click “Save” followed by “Done” to create your map.
Step 2
Click the map's marker to open a pop-up information box.Click the box’s “Street View” link to enter Street View mode where you can view the location from ground level. Press your arrow keys to move around the location to get the view the way you like.
Step 3
Click the “Full Screen” icon in the window’s upper-right corner to switch to full screen mode. That icon doesn’t have a visible name; you’ll find it below the “Share” button.
Step 4
Press your “Windows-Print Screen.” Windows takes a screenshot of your Street View image and stores it the Screenshot folder located in your Pictures library. Press “Esc” to return to normal viewing mode.
Step 5
Upload that photo to a free image hosting service. Google recommends using Google PicasaWeb, but you can store it on any site you like, such as Photobucket or ImageShack. After you upload the photo, copy and save the URL the site gives you; that URL points to the image’s location on the Web.
Step 6
Return to your custom map and click the marker to open a pop-up box that has a toolbar. Click the toolbar's “Rich Text” button and then click the photo icon on the box’s toolbar. Paste the URL of the image you uploaded in the “URL” text box and click “OK” twice. Google Maps adds your Street View photo to the map.
References
Tips
- People who visit your map and click its marker will see your Street View image along with any descriptive text you added.
- As you create a custom map, you have the option to make it public or unlisted by clicking the appropriate radio button. Anyone on the Web can view a public map while the only people who can see an unlisted map are those who know the map’s URL.
- While you are in Street View, you might take several screenshots from different vantage points. Doing that allows you to review those images later and choose the one you like best to upload to a hosting service.
Writer Bio
After majoring in physics, Kevin Lee began writing professionally in 1989 when, as a software developer, he also created technical articles for the Johnson Space Center. Today this urban Texas cowboy continues to crank out high-quality software as well as non-technical articles covering a multitude of diverse topics ranging from gaming to current affairs.